Gunship stowage 15mm

I had an idea recently on how to improve the look of my Republic gunships using crafting mesh.

It's always good to look at the original models whenever possible, this is a nice example of panelling and weathering. This is also a good reference for battle damage and carbon scoring.

This side view clearly shows the stowage racks and hand grips for the troopers. It hangs down far enough to see it and is quite noticeable.
 

Recently I have been watching a guy on YouTube who creates his own space fleets using crafting mesh to create the ships. It took me a while to finally track down what he was actually using. Luckily for me my wife knew exactly what it was and where to get it.

Having managed to get hold of some, I realised it would look great as the stowage and handles in a gunship. So today I cut up some pieces out and glued them in.

At first I put crates and equipment in the racks, but the empty ones looked better, so I emptied them again. Seeing light through the mesh gives a much better impression of the detail, so it was a no brainer.

The troopers look a lot better in the back now too. There was too much space above them before and they looked a little lost. They look much more film accurate now.

I positioned the mesh just low enough so it looked like the figures could reach up and grab it.

My mesh doubles as the hand grips and the stowage racks, it's a cheat but it works.

Once I had worked out the positioning of one, it was time to do all the others. The new ARC troopers gunship got one too.

Finally, the finished gunship got hers too. She really is finished now, complete with cargo storage and racks. The mesh gives just the right amount of detail to do the job at this small scale.

It's nice to keep improving these toys and bringing them closer in to a scale model for gaming.